Dogs 'helped man out-compete with Neanderthals'
19, May,BBC
Dogs could have been the deciding factor which enabled modern humans
to out-compete with Neanderthals and colonise Europe, researchers
claim.Man's relationship with his best friend has lasted 32,000 years,
with cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers using dogs to carry supplies so that
they could save their energy for hunting.
The bond between man and dog arose at around the time Neanderthals
began to surrender their dominance over Europe, which had lasted for the
previous 250,000 years.Now experts have suggested the domestication of
dogs, and the benefit it gave to their masters, could have played a key
rule in the demise of the Neanderthals and supremacy of humans.
Excavations of early human dwellings suggest the animals were revered
by our ancestors, with their teeth adorning jewellery and their images
occasionally painted on walls, the Daily Mail reported. Dogs, which at
the time would have been at least the size of German Shepherds, could
have helped humans by transporting meat and other supplies from one
place to another, removing an energy burden from their masters which
would have given them an advantage when hunting.
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